As predicted, the three Tour events at the NABC in Louisville altered the standings quite dramatically. Giovanni Donati & Giacomo Percario leapt directly into first place thanks to winning the Jacoby Swiss Teams and making it to the semifinals in the Vanderbilt. They take the outright lead in spite of playing with the same teammates in both events, by virtue of having played enough boards in both events to qualify for the full TRP awards.
They are followed very closely by Sabine Auken & Roy Welland after coming in second in the Jacoby and reaching the quarterfinals in the Vanderbilt. They were teammates in both with father and son Jerome & Leo Rombaut, now in sixth place, but had scored good TRPs also earlier this year in Reykjavik.
Sharing third place is Eric Greco & Geoff Hampson and Bobby Levin & Steve Weinstein thanks to their win in the Vanderbilt.
Rounding out the top six are Simon de Wijs & Bauke Muller in fifth place and, as mentioned above, the Rombauts in sixth.
Overall, the top of the rankings already looks like a “who’s who” of international bridge, with only 8 of the Tour’s 29 events being played.
The Tour now moves south to Cali/Colombia for the prestigious South American Transnational Teams. After just a day of rest we move to the European Winter Transnationals in Alpe d’Huez/France for two highly rated events.
